text:
In the houseplant world, orchids have gotten a bad rap.
Many people shy away from growing them, figuring they're too exotic, too demanding, too expensive.
Orchid lovers Cynthia Druckenbrod and Mary Bell have a message for those horticultural scaredy cats: Get over it.
Growing orchids successfully is a matter of finding the right plant for your conditions, said Bell, who grows around 500 orchids in the greenhouse attached to her Coventry Township, Ohio, home. Not all orchids are easy to grow, but there are plenty of choices that are, she said.
And many of those orchids have become so affordable that you don't have to make a long-term commitment, she said. If you don't want to spend the time and effort coaxing one to rebloom, don't bother. Just replace it.
"You really haven't lost that much," she said.
Even with hundreds of plants to care for, Bell said she tends to her orchids only once or twice a week, whenever she needs to relax. She adds fungicide and a weak dose of fertilizer whenever she waters, treats for insects when she needs to and repots every couple of years, or sometimes sooner. But otherwise her orchids are fairly fuss-free.
She doesn't even worry when she knocks a potted orchid over. She just looks at that as repotting.
Bell, who started with five orchids in the late 1970s and has been growing them in earnest for about 15 years, said she used to think of them as delicate. Then she visited Brazil and saw how some of the exotic types grow in nature, often in what seemed to be inhospitable conditions.
"I really relaxed. Nature does not put things in pots," she said.
Bell's orchids grow in a variety of conditions that mimic their natural preferences — some in hanging baskets high in the greenhouse, some under grow lights, still others clinging to pieces of tree bark, without even any growing medium. They stay in the greenhouse in winter and go outdoors in warmer weather to a lath house in her backyard.
Orchids grow naturally in most parts of the world, including Ohio. But the fetching types most people prize are natives of warmer climates and need to stay indoors in the North in winter, Bell said.
Her favorite orchids are showy vandas and cattleyas, but a better choice for beginners is the moth orchid, said Druckenbrod, an orchid enthusiast and the director of horticulture and conservation at Cleveland Botanical Garden.
Moth orchids, properly called phalaenopsis orchids, are easy to grow indoors and bloom for a long time. They thrive outside in warmer weather, provided they're kept in a covered area where they're protected from the rain. If water gets to a moth orchid's crown, the plant can rot, Bell said.
Moth orchids are also accessible, Druckenbrod noted.
"I think what's breaking down the barriers is they're readily available now," she said. Breeders have developed methods for growing moth orchids in mass quantities, so the plants are found even in grocery and home improvement stores at prices that often hover around $15.
And best of all, they're beautiful. Their long flower spikes and flat, elliptical flowers give them a graceful, glamorous appearance that belies their low-fuss nature.
Put a moth orchid in indirect light and never in direct sun, Druckenbrod advised. The orchids like humidity, so let them spend some time in a bathroom now and then.
(Got a bathroom window that gets indirect light? You have the perfect environment for a moth orchid.)
Go easy on watering, Druckenbrod advised. Moth orchids are epiphytes, she said, which means they grow in nature on other plants and don't need or want a great deal of water.
She suggested following the advice of Oberlin, Ohio's Green Circle Growers, which produces the moth orchid brand Just Add Ice: Water simply by placing three ice cubes in the pot each week. While it hasn't been scientifically proven, Druckenbrod believes the ice provides a little shock of cold to the roots that helps the plants retain their flower spikes and triggers reblooming.
Typically a moth orchid will stay in bloom for several months, she said. When it's done blooming, cut off the flower stem if it gets yellow and dies back, making the cut where the stem goes from yellow to green.
If the stem stays green, leave it alone. It might rebloom on that stem, Druckenbrod said.
Moth orchids are easier to get to rebloom than other kinds of orchids, but sometimes they're stubborn. Druckenbrod recommended giving the plant about a year to rebloom; if it doesn't, you might want to buy a new plant.
In fact, Bell suggests thinking of orchids more like cut flowers than long-term houseplants. Get an inexpensive one you like, and "if it's done (flowering), it's done," she said. Buy a new one.
"People don't have to be afraid," she said.
If you fail with one orchid, try a different watering schedule, a different spot in the house or maybe a different orchid, Bell advised.
She recommended buying from a vendor at an orchid show, because those vendors typically know their plants and can tell you how to care for them.
They can also tell you how long a plant has been in bloom, Bell said. That way, you won't buy a plant that's near the end of its blooming cycle and then have it stop blooming before long — a disappointment that can happen with plants purchased from mass merchandisers, she said.
If you're really interested in delving into orchids, Bell suggested joining an orchid club. The members have a great store of expertise developed through trial and error, and they're usually willing to share it, she said. In many clubs, they also trade plants or sell divisions.
"A club is a really good way to expand your varieties, said Bell, who belongs to the Greater Akron Orchid Society. "And then you go overboard and you've got all this," she said with a laugh, gesturing toward her extensive collection.
Remember, she started small, too.
Visit the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) at www.ohio.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services


text:
If you have any questions or need more information please contact the Player Development Committee. They can be found by clicking on the Contacts section of the Home Page
* Note some or all of the preceding documents can be downloaded and displayed and/or printed in Adobe's Acrobat format. If you do not already have Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software, click here to download it now.
Tip: If you are experiencing problems printing downloaded Acrobat documents, try opening Adobe Acrobat before you click the links above to download the file.
New Privacy Policy

subset: commoncrawl


text:
HOLLAND - The contemporary dance company Lehrer Dance will perform at Hope College on Friday and Saturday, April 4-5, at 8 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Based in Buffalo, N.Y., the company is under the direction of Jon Lehrer. Lehrer Dance showcases Lehrer's unique choreography which reflects an extensive background in both modern and jazz dance.
Lehrer Dance's performances will come at the end of a week-long residency with the department of dance at Hope. During the residency the company will offer various master classes for Hope College dance students, plus teach students at Zeeland High School and community members through the Holland Area Arts Council.
Lehrer, who was raised in Queens, N.Y., took his first dance class at age 19 on a dare. He has been a member of Passafiume Dancers, Erick Hawkins Dance Company, and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago (GJDC). After dancing with GJDC for five years, he became the company's associate director. In addition to his works on GJDC, Lehrer has choreographed for several dance companies in Chicago and around the world, including Thodos Dance Chicago; Instruments of Movement; Momenta Dance Theatre; Le Jazz Groupe from Monterrey, Mexico; and Kannon Dance of St. Petersburg, Russia. He founded LehrerDance in 2007.
Lehrer Dance also includes Hope College graduate Matthew Farmer, who is the company's associate director and a dancer. After receiving his BA from Hope in theatre and dance in 2004, Farmer went on to receive his MFA from the dance department at the University of Michigan. While at Hope, he danced for Aerial Dance Theatre (now dANCEpROjECt) for four seasons, under the direction of Steven Iannacone and Linda Graham. Farmer continues to work with Iannacone, most recently performing in the Dance in the Desert Festival as well as with the newly formed project "Men Dance Michigan." Farmer also spent three years with the Peter Sparling Dance Company.
Tickets for the performance are on sale at the ticket office in the main lobby of the DeVos Fieldhouse, and cost $7 for regular admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. The ticket office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7890.
The DeVos Fieldhouse is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave., between Ninth and 11th streets. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in downtown Holland at 86 E. Eighth St.


text:
In the role of Larry Merchant is a TMZ photographer. Starring as Victor Ortiz is the world famous "Ray J." And as Mayweather-by-default, we have rapper Fabolous.
So, let's hear what 50 Cent has to say about some fight-week shenanigans:
According to 50, as he was greeting Fab backstage at The Palms' concert center, Ray J approached the rapper in an aggressive manner.
"Ray popped off like 'I told you my people's wasn't going to be happy with all that,'" 50 recalls the singer saying in reference to the Twitter comments. "Fab was looking at him [Ray J] like he was crazy."
From there the altercation turned physical and 50 said her stepped in to break it up. As for the bloody beaten Ray J alleged he gave to Fabolous, 50 said it didn't exactly go down like that. It was more like Ray J swung and missed on the punch he claimed he delivered.
"I'm not saying Ray J is lying, they did get to start moving in the hallway but I got in between both of them," 50 said. "If he [Fabolous] got punched in the face he wouldn't have went on stage [to perform] with no [sun] glasses."
50 Cent Weighs In On Ray J, Fabolous Fight [BET]
Ray J vs. Fabolous Vicious Club Fight Footage & 50 Cent's the Ringleader [TMZ]


text:
Single-Family Home
Normandy Custom
About the Home
The Normandy at Willowsford is the perfect choice for those seeking a spacious living environment and luxurious features. From the open layout of the first-floor living areas to the gorgeous design of the owner's suite, you'll love living in the Normandy. The first thing you see when you step through the door is the light and airy foyer opening to the second floor. This dramatic entry invites you into a huge living area with the kitchen, dining room and family room all flowing beautifully together. The centerpiece of the home is undoubtedly the kitchen. The large island adds a true "wow" factor, plus there's plenty of room for entertaining! Service cabinets to the side of the fridge make a great butler's pantry where you can stage food. The dinette creates an intimate side space, which you can accentuate with an optional hutch featuring glass cabinets. Best of all, the living area's design allows for easy flow between the kitchen and other rooms. You can cook and still be a part of every conversation! Right off the kitchen, you'll find the convenient service wing with its garage entry area. A huge storage closet and an optional arrival center provide more than enough room to store everything from winter coats to important keepsakes. When you're ready to turn in for the night or whenever you want some time to yourself, the upstairs owner's suite gives you an amazing place to retreat. A cozy seating area is a great place to sit and read, while the owner's bathroom is filled with natural light so you can relax in true comfort. You can even choose a larger shower or a separate soaking tub and shower, and the owner's bathroom comes complete with a full tray ceiling. The Normandy also offers numerous options that allow you to personalize your space. You may add a charming fireplace to the living area downstairs. If you'd like a first-floor bedroom, simply choose to convert the standard study. You can also add a bonus room for more space on the first floor. Then, there's the basement. You can turn it into a dramatic feature by finishing it and adding a wet bar! The Normandy has all the space you want in a design that is as luxurious as it is welcoming. It's a home you'll love owning.


text:
The latest trending report Global Plastic Waste Management Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 offered by DecisionDatabases.com is an informative study covering the market with detailed analysis. The report will assist reader with better understanding and decision making.
Plastic waste management is a collective term for various approaches and strategies used to recycle plastic materials that would otherwise be dumped into landfills, or bodies of water, or otherwise contaminate the environment. The idea behind this type of waste management is to utilize those discarded materials to manufacture new plastic products without the need to actually generate additional plastic materials. Doing so can help lower production costs as well as protect the environment.
This report focuses on the Plastic Waste Management in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.
Browse the complete report and table of contents @
Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Veolia Environnement, Suez Environnement, Waste Management, Republic Services, Stericycle, Clean Harbors, ADS Waste Holdings, Progressive Waste Solutions, Covanta Holding, Remondis, Parc, Kayama, Shirai, New COOP Tianbao, China Recyling Development, Luhai, Vanden, Fuhai Lantian, Shanghai Qihu
Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)
Market Segment by Type, covers Landfill, Recycle, Incineration
Download Free Sample Report of Global Plastic Waste Management Market @
There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Plastic Waste Management market.
Chapter 1, to describe Plastic Waste Management Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;
Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Plastic Waste Management, with sales, revenue, and price of Plastic Waste Management, in 2016 and 2017;
Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;
Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Plastic Waste Management, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;
Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;
Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;
Chapter 12, Plastic Waste Management market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;
Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Plastic Waste Management sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.
Purchase the complete Global Plastic Waste Management Market Research Report @http://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/buy-now-19077
Other Related Reports by DecisionDatabases.com:
Global Waste to Energy (WTE) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 @ http://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/17577-waste-to-energy-wte-market-analysis-report
DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.
Our expert research analysts have been trained to map client's research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.
For more details:
E Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +91 99 28 237112
Web: www.decisiondatabases.com/


text:
The Millers suffered a blow before a ball had been kicked with Lionel Ainsworth injured in the warm-up and replaced by Gareth Evans and more was to follow when Dale Tonge was injured after just two minutes, bringing Mark Bradley into the action as an early replacement.
But it was the home side who dominated the first period. Jake Cole in the Argyle goal made three excellent saves from Evans ,Lee Frecklington and Ben Pringle and Kari Arnason headed home Pringle's 32nd minutes corner, only for the effort to be ruled out for a push.
Argyle could have had a goal in the first minute when Andres Gurrieri's shot flashed wide but their best chance fell to Guy Madjo, who's close-range header in the 39th minute went over.
Again after the break, all the pressure came from Rotherham, but it took them until the 73rd minute to break down Argyle's resistance.
Daniel Nardiello who had a shot saved minutes earlier, broke down the right and from his cross Agard turned the ball home from close range to seal the points.
Source: PA
Source: PA


text:
|Original ACEO for auction on eBay
Sign up to receive news of my books in the comfort of your own inbox.
If you'd like the (infrequent) mailing with news of my books just go to the bottom of any page on my website - click here for my website - or just send me your email address and I can add you.
Amazon US for paperbacks and ebooks
That Tweet button lets you tweet this post just like that! It's magic!


text:
Pentax K-01 Boasts APS-C Sensor, Mod Design
Pentax introduces today the K-01, a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with a bold new retro design by Marc Newson. The K-01 accepts Pentax's K-mount lenses and offers a 16 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor coupled to a new PRIME M processor.
Pentax K-01: Thoroughly Modern
This is Pentax's second effort in the mirrorless realm. The Q is a point-and-shoot sized interchangeable lens camera with a point-and-shoot sized sensor. The K-01 brings a DSLR-sized CMOS sensor to the fight, a 16.28 imager measuring 23.7 x 15.7mm. This system is capable of 1080 HD video with H.264 compression at framerates of 30, 25 or 24 fps. Native ISO range stretches from 100 up to 12800, and then is expandable up to ISO 25600. Burst shooting is available at 6 fps.
The K-01 will carry a high resolution 3.0-inch 921k-dot LCD. It will provide a dust reduction system and sensor-shift image stabilization. In fact, the K-01 is more DSLR-esque than many compact ILCs, being both somewhat bulky and deep and offering a large sensor. It offers both a pop-up flash and hot shoe for extra illumination, and shutter speeds range from 1/4000 to 30 seconds. SD, SDHC and SDXC cards are all compatible with the K-01.
Along with the K-01, Pentax introduces a new smc Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS prime, calling it the world's smallest lens. Having seen a prototype model at this year's CES, I can say it's no contest. The 40mm is easily the smallest lens anywhere, ever. Officially it measures 9.2mm thick, and it feels every bit as slim as that number suggests.
Pentax outsourced design of the K-01 to Marc Newson, a well-established industrial designer. He's given the K-01 a nod to the past as well as a thoroughly modern finish with large control dials and color-coded buttons on the top panel. Everything on the back panel looks familiar, aside from a button labeled "Play." Controls and overall design are minimalistic, and the camera is offered in black, white or an optic yellow for which Mr. Newson is known.
Pricing and Availability
The Pentax K-01 will be sold body-only for $749.95, ready and waiting to be used with your stash of K-mount lenses. It will also be available as a kit with the ultra-thin 40mm pancake for $899.95. The smc Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS will be available for purchase separately for $249.95. The entire system is scheduled to arrive in March.


text:
Bartenders Attempt To Match Up The Drink Choice To The Person
Is drink choice linked to personality? These bartenders attempt to glean these strangers' alcohol choices based on personality traits.
Thanks for creating an account! Your accounts lets you Digg (upvote) stories, save stories to revisit later, and more.
Email will be sent to:
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive. You can change your subscriptions any time in your user settings.
Enjoy your new account! As a reminder, you can change your profile and email settings in your profile.
Is drink choice linked to personality? These bartenders attempt to glean these strangers' alcohol choices based on personality traits.
Now, *this* is how you should play Dance Evolution.
If you know the secret backend of "Super Mario Bros. 3," finishing it in three minutes is a breeze.
A legion of A-list stars did a table read of the 1982 teen comedy classic to to raise funds for coronavirus pandemic relief.
YouTuber JunsKitchen wanted to try to make an aquaponic tank — a fish tank in which you can grow vegetables — and you can see the whole process unfold in glorious detail from start to finish.
Well, that's one way to finish a meal.
This is so poignant it's painful.
Every day we send an email with the top videos from Digg.
Ryan Murphy's new Netflix series "Ratched" seems to be a hot mess, according to reviews. Here are some of the most caustic comments critics have made about the show.
"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
Actors make unconventional choices all the time in their approach of roles. This was his.
With Adobe Sign you can stop chasing down signatures and get documents signed in minutes — not days.
Maybe sleep on this before you do this to your air mattress.
Apple unveiled several new products earlier this week and rolled out iOS 14 for existing devices. However, one new iOS 14 feature is confusing some users.
For the residents of a small town bordering Oregon, this weekend's smoke felt like "the apocalypse was happening right here."
The newborn calf of Flo the cow had slipped under a low-voltage electric fence shortly after it had been born. Fortunately for Flo and her calf, a passing motorist came to the rescue.
Platforms like Facebook are designed to profit from humans' confirmation bias. Here's how to restore balance to your feed.
Rice cakes dominated pantries in the '80s and '90s. Where did they come from and where did they go?
Now, *this* is how you should play Dance Evolution.
Heavy elements like gold are created by the deaths, explosions and collisions of stars. A new study breaks down these diverse origins.
Husband and wife duo Guzman talk photographing Kurt Cobain, Debbie Harry, Snoop Dogg and Janet Jackson and getting intimate with the decade's music icons.
The Cybovac E30 Robot Vacuum Cleaner has an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Amazon due to its Alexa integration and app-enabled smart features.
From "Get Lucky" to "Cake By The Ocean," this musical note has commanded the way pop music sounds over the past 10 years.
A new documentary about the chance reunion of long-lost triplets contains a dark episode of American history at its core.
Many people in Lebanon chalk up the August explosion to yet another case of government that lost its way.
Reassessing history's most maligned ruler, notorious for fiddling while Rome burned.
Why have all of the prolific producer's streaming shows been so bad?
If you know the secret backend of "Super Mario Bros. 3," finishing it in three minutes is a breeze.
Vaccines have been providing a kind of hidden, unintended protection for over a century. Now scientists are racing to find out how it works.
The logbook is written from the white perspective, and its horrors are plain to see.
With Adobe Sign you can stop chasing down signatures and get documents signed in minutes — not days.
Alexey Rom takes the disco classic is new heights.
The HBO Max film "Unpregnant," about a teen who travels from Missouri to New Mexico to get an abortion, has received backlash from the Christian right. They're missing the point.
Some pets rise to the occasion. Some nonchalantly look on.
Little can compare to the healing power of silence.
Today, Amazon is offering up lifetime access to all 24 Rosetta Stone languages for just $159. Even better, you can learn on your phone, tablet and PC while maintaining your progress everywhere.
Lady Gaga's music video for "911" takes you on a wild journey.
Over the course of a 1,100-mile road trip, we could have counted anything. Vultures. Thunderclouds. Trees. Instead, we tallied Toyota RAV4s, and 436 midsize SUVs later my brain is wallpaper paste.
Perhaps focusing on today's real harms could help us figure out how to start dealing with climate change. Here's one way to do that: by looking at the most significant climate threat unfolding in your own backyard.
A fully satisfying slow motion sensory experience.
If you've ever had a wild dream of living in a really narrow house, preferably located in London, now is your time. Apparently, someone is currently selling the thinnest house in London, which is only 5 feet, 5 inches wide.
Every day somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. To that end, we rounded up the "main characters" on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
How can Americans say they're the land of the free and have to face ridiculously long lines at the polls?
Graphic designer Matt Shirley asked his Instagram followers from different states to vote whether they'd rather be hot or cold.
This terrible trend has targeted people who were poor, disabled or incarcerated and people of color.
A legion of A-list stars did a table read of the 1982 teen comedy classic to to raise funds for coronavirus pandemic relief.
Climate change is killing Americans and destroying the country's physical infrastructure.
Time marches on, and so does Apple's pursuit of the perfect time, fitness, and health accessory.
Julie Nolke demonstrates how all of your friends react after you go viral.
This week, we've got OnlyFans spinoffs, "My son can't be gay. He's obsessed with women," item drop when you kill me, "Is for me?" and life on Venus.
The money it would cost to destroy the tickets is far cheaper than the $9 million that it would cost the pizza chain if the tickets ended up in the hands of the general public and were redeemed for prizes.
Oscar and Emmy winning special effects artist Howard Berger reviews and shares how scenes from movies like "The Wizard of Oz," "The Godfather" and "The Exorcist" were made.
Six students tested positive for covid-19 days before Attleboro High School in Massachusetts reopened its doors for the first day of school this week. Only five of them stayed home.
When millennials talk about being burned out, they are pointing to the failures of capitalism.
The enthusiasm is contagious.
There's a revolution in consumer content quality brewing and the movie and film studios don't seem to be paying much attention.
In the late 2000s, the CIA conducted a research project with Harvard University called Project Looking Glass, designed to understand why the intelligence community had failed to foil the September 11 attacks.
Andrew Huang had a Eureka! moment when he discovered that every song The Weeknd performs has the same four notes.


text:
It doesn't get much better than saucy French futurism, does it? These illustrations of futuristic flying machines from 1901 are quite similar to both the German and French personal flying machines we've looked at from this era.
I find the electric lights adorning her hat and dress quite beautiful. Early electric light and the way it was described in such poetic terms at the turn of the twentieth century truly leaves me in awe. Strangely enough, I caught myself asking, "but where is the power source for those lights?!?!!" all the while ignoring how absurd a system of dangerously placed propellors and wings would be for human flight.
If my universal language translator can be trusted (actually, I used Babelfish), "au siecle prochain," means "in the next century," and "comment on suivra les femmes," translates to, "how women will be followed." The illustration below appears to be of a lover making his hasty escape out the window, as madame's husband arrives home.
Below are images from previous blog posts on German postcards (circa 1900) and French prints (1910). A special thanks to Scott Lesch for the black and white images above.
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- Flying Machines (circa 1885)
- Boy's Flying Machine of the Twentieth Century (1900)
- Postcards Show The Year 2000 (circa 1900)
- French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
- What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years (Ladies Home Journal, 1900)


text:
Explore the far corners of the globe and return via Hamburg – travel itineraries don't get much better than that. Gateway to the world, beautiful seafaring hub, maritime capital of the north – even the normally reserved locals find it hard to conceal their pride in their home city, its ambience and its cosmopolitan charm.
How do you like the sound of a port sightseeing tour followed by a stroll through the old town before heading to HafenCity, Hamburg's new city centre? Or perhaps the other way around… ? There are countless ways to discover the beguiling character of this Hanseatic trade centre that is at once steeped in tradition and at the forefront of modernity. That said, no visit to Hamburg would be complete without a boat trip around one of Europe's biggest ports. Sightseeing boats launch from the Landungsbrücken jetties and weave their way through huge container vessels, majestic steam-powered ocean liners and elegant yachts; an experience that can only be described as unforgettable. Make your visit all the more memorable with a leisurely stroll through the old town, where noble merchants once traded coffee, tea and spices. Today it's an inviting scene of residences and grand corner buildings from the 17th to the 19th century, quaint restaurants and laid-back bars. Another reminder of Hamburg's heritage is the historical Speicherstadt, home to the world's largest single complex of traditional brick warehouses, resting on thousands of oak supports and intersected by narrow waterways, the Fleets. Or if you want to discover the Hamburg of today and tomorrow, head to HafenCity, one of the largest inner-city construction projects in Europe and a contrast between seafaring heritage and cutting-edge architecture in the heart of the Überseequartier. Nestled between Speicherstadt and the port, this maritime world of discovery and shopping paradise stretches all the way to the Hamburg Cruise Center along a broad boulevard.
If this place doesn't give you a taste for cruises, then nothing ever will. After seeing some of the world's biggest and most spectacular cruise ships sailing in and out of Hamburg's port, you're sure to leave with aspirations of sailing the seven seas. The people of Hamburg are especially fond of the Queen Mary 2, a vessel for whom the city has become something of a second home. Every time the majestic ocean liner comes into port, thousands of well-wishers line the Elbe to welcome her – often accompanied by a huge fireworks display and always with great exuberance.
There are many places to enjoy spectacular views of the city's maritime goings-on, such as the viewpoint at the Cruise Center, or from the Perlenkette along the banks of the Elbe with its luxurious residences and exclusive restaurants, or from the Magellan Terraces that give an unparalleled view of Hamburg's latest landmark, the Elbe Philharmonic Hall on the western tip of HafenCity. One of the best places to see Hamburg in all its glory is the public viewing platform at the futuristic Dockland office building, which rises up from the Elbe at a height of 40 metres. Views of a very different kind are on offer in the lively, slightly flipped-out alternative quarter of St. Pauli with its famous red light district the Reeperbahn. Or there's the fish market in Altona, where fresh fish (and much more besides) is auctioned every Sunday at the crack of dawn – a shopping experience like no other. And speaking of shopping, Hamburg has something for everyone, including on the Jungfernstieg, the city's chic centre of shopping and finance that begins at the Inner Alster. Even here, in the heart of the city, you can take a gentle stroll along the riverside promenades. The same is true of the Outer Alster, the perfect place for a spot of leisure and recreation within easy reach of central Hamburg. And if you get the impression that the people of Hamburg simply can't get enough of the water, then you'd be absolutely right.
Two useful shortcuts for using the zoom function of your browser:
Zoom in: +
Zoom out: +
For further assistance from your browser provider click the icon:


text:
LP Presidential candidates normally don't get this level of media exposure, ever. Senator Mike Gravel's switch to the Libertarian Party is causing a great deal of positive mainstream media attention. Below is an excerpt from the Newsweek interview, posted today. I will note that Last Free voice beat Newsweek to the punch, interviewing Senator Gravel within 48 hours of his decision to run as an LP candidate.
After the crowded presidential primary shrunk from eight Democrats and 11 Republicans to only three viable candidates between the two parties, what's a spurned presidential hopeful to do? Well, if you're Ron Paul, you ignore John McCain's inevitability and keep running anyway. If you're former U.S. senator Mike Gravel, you switch parties.
Last Monday, the former Democrat swung by the Libertarian Party's national headquarters and defected. "We handed him a [membership] card on the spot," says Shane Cory, the party's executive director. Two days later, Gravel formally announced he would run to be the Libertarian candidate for president, joining a field of 15 others. Cory wouldn't comment on Gravel's chances at the convention, which will take start in Denver on May 22, but he did say that Gravel's party swap has garnered some much-appreciated exposure for the Libertarians.
Gravel spoke to NEWSWEEK's Sarah Elkins about the 2008 race and why he's still running. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You've been a Democrat for your entire political career. Was it a tough decision to switch parties?
Mike Gravel: It had been eating at me–believe me–ever since I was a senator [he served from 1969 to 1981]. When I was in the Senate, I was a maverick and, at the end of my term, I was not particularly happy with my progress in terms of partisanship with the Democrats and Republicans. So when I left office, I stayed away from partisan politics altogether. But when I decided to get back in the game and to get my message out to the American people about the National Initiative [a political movement that would allow ballot initiatives at the federal level], I had to pick a party that would allow me to get into the debates … But of all the parties I was probably closest to the Libertarians.
It sounds like you've been interested in leaving the Democratic Party for some time. Why didn't you make the move sooner?
It wouldn't have made any sense for me to enter the race as a Libertarian. [As a Democratic candidate], I got into the debates and got a fair amount of visibility up until General Electric [which owns NBC] along with the Democratic Party leadership, said they would get me out of the debates. And they did. GE said I did not meet their criteria for participating in the debates. I think it's very interesting that a defense contractor said I had to meet their criteria in order to participate in the MSNBC debates. We've really come down in democracy when a defense contractor can decide what the American people hear from a candidate. It was a [Democratic National Committee] sanctioned debate, so we complained to the DNC and found out that Howard Dean had agreed to it and that not a single one of the other Democratic nominees raised a finger in protest, meaning that they were totally tone deaf to the censorship of the military-industrial complex.
So you didn't consider running as a Libertarian from the get-go?
I would have preferred to run as an independent or Libertarian or Green Party, but I knew that none of those candidates would have gotten any traction. So I used my position as a legitimate Democratic candidate to get my name out there.
You still have to win the Libertarian primary in order to run as the party's candidate.
I am probably the most well known and certainly the most experienced in terms of running for president and as a government official. I have 16 years of experience in elected office and have been a senator, and I have a great deal of foreign-policy experience.
You can read the very interesting three-page interview excerpt with Newsweek here.


text:
Clematis, virgin's bower
Clematis species
Plants of Home and Garden, Trees and Shrubs
Sow sparingly, just covered, outdoors in a cold frame from mid-fall through mid-winter, keep moist. Or sow indoors spring or summer, stratify 2-3 weeks. May have double dormancy and take a year or more to germinate. Move outdoors in summer. Rich, moist, well-drained soil ideal, though most species accepting of heavier clay soils; good light to full sun; may mulch in summer
Fibrous-rooted species may be divided, or propagate most species by air layering or by soft or semi-hard cuttings. Golden clematis, Clematis tangutica, good in dry areas, does well in most zones. Zone 2-9
See Also
Cupid's bower, hot water plant (Achimenes species)
Related Topics
|Copyright © 2020,
All rights reserved


text:
If the main hero of your comic is a pointy-eared young girl with perky breasts and pink hair, it is one of two things -- a Japanese Manga, or a Western comic that desperately wishes it was a Japanese Manga. Blade Kitten, a collection of adventures based around the feisty and annoying creature known as Kit Ballard, is the latter.
The videogame version of Blade Kitten is based on a comic created by a game maker who I think made the comic so he could make the game, but I'm not entirely sure. In fact, having dug around the Internet as much as possible to find out about the entire intellectual property, I'm still not sure exactly what the point of any of it is.
All I know is that this is a game about a point-eared young girl with perky breasts and pink hair. All you need to know, I suppose.
Blade Kitten (PC, XBLA, PSN [reviewed])
Developer: Krome Studios
Publisher: Atari
Released: September 22, 2010
Blade Kitten is a sidescrolling action game in which Kit Ballard does nothing much of anything at all, slicing up foes with her semi-sentient sword and telling a little flying Pokémon thing what to do. The story is as banal as it can get, with dialog that is in turns uninteresting and borderline embarrassing (hearing Ballard say "Win Get" and "Epic Fail" makes me want to cringe). The general idea is that Kit is a bounty hunter, some stuff happens, and then there are things.
The vast majority of the gameplay consists of largely inoffensive hack n' slash combat and platforming, framed around a giant collect-a-thon extravaganza. Kit is able to make her floating sword perform both short-ranged and long-ranged attacks, although there aren't any combos or anything. You can effectively just walk around hammering one button and the sword will attack indefinitely. It's not exactly a thrilling combat system. It's just there.
Blade Kitten, in fairness, does throw in a few token additions to break the monotony. Kit can do a ground-pound attack, and also has access to a special move that seems to be available only when the game feels like doing it. Enemy assaults can be blocked and every now and then you'll find an enemy that needs a more tactical approach, such as a back-attack or a ranged move, but for the most part, you just make the sword do its thing until everything's dead.
Kit can jump from wall to wall, and can also climb up most surfaces and ceilings simply by walking into it. There are quite a few hidden areas in which to find collectibles and a number of environmental puzzles pop up now and then, which nearly all consist of pressing buttons or sending the little flying creature (Skiffy) to activate something. None of it's all that interesting, but none of it's frustrating either. Exactly like the combat, it's just there.
The formulaic platforming is occasionally broken up by sections that see Blade riding on the back of a bipedal pink thing. A cross between Dino from The Flintstones and an ostrich, as far as I can. It's nothing you haven't seen before, as Kit and her Dinostrich run from left to right, stopping every now and then to open a door or fight some enemies. If you can get into the game enough to care, you can also collect tons of Yen dotted about each level, which can be spent on new blades, health or stamina upgrades, and fresh costumes.
The game has a Strider feel to it, with its combination of platforming and combat, but something about the game just doesn't quite feel right. Kit isn't the most responsive of characters to control, and her animations will sometimes get confused, especially when trying to transition from walking to climbing. She also feels a bit too floaty and light for a platformer, leading to a game that feels somewhat alienating to play. It doesn't help that the blade floats and fights without Kit herself having to do anything. Pressing the attack button and watching the sword go off to do its own thing makes the combat feel even less engaging than it perhaps could have been.
To its credit, Blade Kitten looks pretty nice, with some cool cel-shaded graphics. The weeaboo art style is something that will appeal only to those who already enjoy that sort of thing, but like everything in this game, even those who generally dislike anime won't be offended by the "look at how Japanese we can be" artistic direction.
Blade Kitten isn't a bad game at all. It's very functional, it does what it does, and anybody can play it. However, there's absolutely nothing that it does that's compelling in the least. It's bland, it's charmless, and it's completely without a point. There are certainly those will find the art appealing, and fans of the comic, if any exist, will most likely dig whatever it is this game has to offer them. For anybody else, however, this game doesn't really do anything that hasn't been done in better games, and there's just so much else out there that one really can't justify spending the cash on this.
If you're incredibly desperate for a sidescroller, then Blade Kitten will waste a handful of hours for you, and might even scratch your itch. You really would have to make sure there's nothing else left to play before considering opening your wallet for this, though.
Score: 5.5 -- Mediocre (5s are an exercise in apathy, neither Solid nor Liquid. Not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit "meh," really.)
Blade Kitten reviewed by Jim Sterling
An exercise in apathy, neither solid nor liquid. Not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit "meh," really.
How we score: The Destructoid reviews guide


text:
BTW, I guess we ought to give some PBP & recap the top of the 1st, which just ended.
Paul grounded out to the pitcher
Cairo singled "on a soft line drive to shortstop" - so says my MLB app.
Rodriquez walked
Frazier flew out to center and then Heisey flew out to right.


text:
[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. On the Road opens today in limited release.]
Jack Kerouac's On the Road is a novel that inspired a generation of restless young men and women to break free from their comfort zones, broaden their horizons, and look to the majesty of America. Walter Salles' On the Road is a film adaptation that will inspire a generation of lazy high school kids to watch the movie instead of reading the book. Salles snaps up the words of Kerouac's novel, but not their spirit. The movie shouldn't simply regurgitate the book because adaptation should be a work of inspiration and not imitation. But there's nothing inspired about Salles' picture. It's safe where it should be dangerous. It's lugubrious when it should be explosive. It's derivative when it should be daring. Despite glimmers of an emotionally moving story, On the Road rarely has the energy to get up and bravely venture forth beyond the plot constraints of a book that's not driven by its plot.
In its broad strokes, On the Road explores the relationship between aspiring writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) and the freewheeling Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund). To become a better writer, Sal decides to crisscross the country. One trip he goes solo, another trip he goes with Dean and Dean's ex-wife Marylou (Kristen Stewart), and on another trip he and Dean head south to Mexico. There are brief interludes at various destinations where the characters drink, get high, and screw around, but no one can ever settle down when the road is calling.
But there's no wisdom or insight to be found on the road in On the Road. Kerouac's novel inspires a sense of wanderlust in the reader. It makes us want to leave our stolid lives behind, and dive into the unknown because we know we'll be richer for the experience. But Salles' picture has all the urgency of a slideshow where your friends show you pretty pictures of landscapes and tell you of the crazy times they had. We're not a participant in their travels, nor are we particularly fascinated by the events they experience. Film should transport us into other worlds, and On the Road wants to keep us in our seats so we can watch characters be physically transported.
Their transportation is rarely emotional or spiritual. On the Road may have been an impossible adaptation because the energy is in Kerouac's syntax and vocabulary. He's constantly taking literary chances, and when he fails he does so in a big brash fashion (like when he tries to re-create the power of jazz by writing effusively about it; if Jazz' power could be reproduced through description alone, it would cease to be powerful). Salles hardly takes any chances beyond letting his camera drift listlessly alongside the characters. Occasionally, he'll find a beautiful shot like cutting across landscapes and weather through a unique camera angle. But it's almost as if Salles is trying to copy his previous film, The Motorcycle Diaries, but the style no longer clicks. Curiously, there are flashes when Salles and his characters cut loose and intimacy creeps into the picture. We feel the body heat and the passion as Dean and Marylou drunkenly dance at a party. Sadly, these moments are few and far between. Without verve and vigor, On the Road is about as electric as a liquor commercial.
Salles receives no help from his cast despite having such talented forces as Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, and Kirsten Dunst in supporting roles. The script never spends enough time with the Old Bull Lee (Mortensen) and his wife Jane (Adams) or Dean's wife, Camille (Dunst). They're merely road markers on the languid journey of Sal and Dean. At least Riley's raspy voice adds some color to Sal, but there could perhaps be no greater miscasting than Hedlund as Dean Moriarty. Salles isn't obligated to directly copy the character from the book, but Dean is written as a restless and rambunctious figure because his personality fits with the travels Sal hopes to take. Through Hedlund's performance, Dean is nothing but a cool cat who occasionally jumps around. The opening and closing narration (quoting from the novel) present Dean Moriarty as a quasi-mythical figure who could drive the timid to follow his lead. Hedlund's Moriarty is a laid-back guy who'd like to bum a smoke or borrow a few bucks. As for Stewart, it's tough to say she's miscast since her role has been "expanded" in that Marylou is in more of the story, but her role is just to be a sex object.
These kinds of expansions, which also include pushing Dean's bisexuality and the unrequited homosexual love of his friend Carlo Marx (Tom Sturridge), don't add to the story or the world (although they will prove invaluable to teachers hoping to spot which of their students only saw the movie). A storyteller can't add to his story when he doesn't know what the story is meant to convey. On the Road is a case study in showing how a novel's setting, plot, characters, and dialogue can be emulated in a movie, but still be devoid of the magic, overwhelming, and indefinable "IT."
Rating: C-


text:
The shoes that started it all. Alpargatas in cozy jersey with a soft faux shearling lining.
Birch heather jersey upper
Faux shearling lining
Classic Alpargata design
For ages 1-4
Adjustable closure
Elastic "v" for easy on/off
Cotton twill antimicrobial sockliner
Rubber outsole for traction
With every pair of shoes your purchase, TOMS will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One®


text:
Because a name should reflect who you are. Flooring is all we do. No lumber. No liquidation. Just quality flooring, and a team of flooring experts to help you every step of the way.
NOTICE: FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR STAFF AND CUSTOMERS - Masks are required to enter all LL Flooring stores until further notice. If you forget to bring a mask, don't worry - we can supply one to you free of charge. Or, you can try an online virtual visit.
Schedule Your Virtual Visit
Schedule Your Virtual Visit


text:
- SockGuy socks Made in the U.S.A. since 1996>
- Made in the USA>
- LAX Patriot socks
LAX Patriot socks
- Cuff Height : 8"
- Made with : Micro-Denier Acrylic
- Style : Crew Cuff; Padded
- Availability: In stock
Are your socks showing signs of wear after just one or two games? SockGuy makes THE best lacrosse socks on the market that will not wear out. All our lax socks look cool on or off the field. They feature exceptional comfort and strength and feature our "Stretch-to-Fit" sizing system and our exclusive "Easy-fit" cuff for a PERFECT FIT every time on any foot. These features create superior softness and comfort and help eliminate blisters and hot spots. We also feature a double stitched heel & toe for added strength and durability. We deliver Superior Quality and High-Tech Comfort in every SockGuy sock we make.


text:
Sygic's Mobile Maps UK & Ireland sat nav app for the iPhone has a very distinctive look – almost cartoon-like, almost like you're looking at someone's mock-up of what a sat-nav system could look like.
We've decided that generally we like it, but we don't like how small some of the interface elements are; they can be tricky to read when driving.
There are plenty of features – unlike Navigon's Navigator Europe app, it can do a full postcode search – and we like how the view zooms in and out as your speed changes as you need to see less or more detail.
It doesn't, though, duck playing music to let spoken instructions be clearly heard, and you're dependent on finding a good, powered cradle for your car.
It can't read your address book – though an update is imminent – and the price we've quoted is a sale price which may not be available after the summer.
Buy from our affiliates: iTunes Store
Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview


text:
Gorgeous Vietnamese model Yoko makes her film debut for Hegre.com this week
- and it's a good one!
Yes - you get the chance to wake up in bed with Yoko who seems to have a whole lot of 'sexy something' on her mind! So admire the view as Yoko caresses her firm little breasts and plays with her luscious pussy lips – letting you watch all along the way!
Yoko is a natural flirt and you'll be blown away as she looks you in the eye and flashes her oh-so-sexy little smile…
This playful little nymph is definitely one to watch!
Would you like to comment? Join us today, or sign in if you're already a member.


text:
Baltimore City Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector introduced a bill Monday that would crack down on what she deems "aggressive" panhandling.
Spector's bill would make it illegal for people to solicit handouts along street shoulders, medians and in traffic. It's a problem that's been getting worse with time, the 5th District Democrat said, and her constituents frequently ask her to fix it.
"It's the aggressive kind of panhandling that I've been trying to get my arms around for a long time," Spector said Monday. "The police need a tool to do something about it. It's been persistent. It's a dangerous situation, and it's getting worse."
At a lunch Monday, council members discussed the bill and some raised questions. Councilman Robert W. Curran, of the 3rd District, wondered how it would affect firefighters, charitable institutions and youth sports teams that seek roadside donations.
"You have the boot for the Fire Department and you have all these teams," Curran asked. "What about the rose sellers?"
"My issue is public safety," Spector responded.
Later, Spector said she would try to carve out exceptions that would allow certain groups to obtain permits to solicit donations. The councilwoman also said she wasn't sure what kind of penalties the law would carry, if approved.
"The police would be able to move them on or take them in," Spector said of panhandlers, adding that she planned to iron out those details at a future work session. "It's a work in progress. It has to start somewhere."
Meredith Curtis, spokeswoman for the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said her organization has concerns about the bill.
"The Supreme Court has ruled that solicitation is protected free speech," Curtis said. "What the government cannot do is discriminate between different groups and individuals who wish to speak. We would be very concerned that in the enforcement of such a law that people who are homeless would be targeted."
Spector said she doesn't believe her proposal would violate any constitutional provisions.
On a different matter, the administration of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake introduced a bill proposing a generous tax break to builders of apartment buildings downtown and in six other neighborhoods. The legislation would provide tax breaks that would decline over 15 years to developers of market-rate apartment buildings with 50 or more units. In the first two years following the issuance of an occupancy permit for the building, the owner would pay no property tax.
Additionally, Councilman Brandon Scott, of the 2nd District, called for the council's Public Safety Committee to hold several investigative hearings, including addressing what he called an "uptick" in violent crime and a plan to hire an outside consultant to evaluate the police department and develop a long-term plan.
Also, Councilman James Kraft, of the 1st District, moved forward with a plan to do away with permitted parking in Canton.
Latest Politics


text:
Iwonski, Carl G. Von (1830–1912)
Carl G. von Iwonski, painter, was born at Hilbersdorf, Silesia, Prussia, on April 23, 1830, the son of Leopold and Marie (Kalinowska-Tshirski) von Iwonski. His father was formerly a Prussian army officer. Little is known of Iwonski's childhood before the family immigrated with the Adelsverein colonists to New Braunfels, Texas, in 1845. He reached adulthood in Horton Town (later Neighborville), a nearby farming community, working at his father's farm, stage stop, and saloon. As an artist he was largely self-taught; training in art was not generally cultivated in Texas at the time. He may, however, have received art lessons from Friedrich Richard Petri or Hermann Lungkwitz, both Dresden-trained artists who arrived in 1851.
Iwonski established his first studio in New Braunfels in the mid-1850s. There he made pencil, ink, watercolor, and oil portraits of German settlers. He gave six pencil sketches of Texas subjects to prince Paul of Württemberg during the prince's visit to New Braunfels in 1855. During the next two years Iwonski also made a series of drawings of scenes performed by the New Braunfels Amateur Theater. His well-known panorama of New Braunfels was lithographed in Leipzig, and his lithograph of the Germania Gesangverein of New Braunfels in 1857 depicted the first German singing society in Texas (see TEXAS STATE SÄNGERBUND). In the late 1850s the family moved to San Antonio, where Iwonski painted scenery and scenes from plays performed by the German settlers' Casino Club. He also learned photography from William DeRyee, a pioneer chemist and photographer from Bavaria. Iwonski and DeRyee were business partners for a few years.
Immediately before the Civil War, Iwonski made sketches of Texas state troops in San Antonio and at Camp Las Moras near Brackettville. The latter work was the first Civil War sketch reproduced in Harper's Weekly. Iwonski's The Terry Rangers (Sam Maverick and the Terry Rangers) is a well-known painting of Texans galloping off to war. During the war and Reconstruction, Iwonski also taught drawing at the German-English School in San Antonio.
During Reconstruction, part of Iwonski's art was devoted to political ends. He and his father were Radical Republican leaders in San Antonio; the former served as city tax collector and the latter as Bexar county treasurer. In aid of his party during crucial elections, Iwonski sketched cartoons ridiculing the opposition. Answer of the Germans was photographically reproduced and pasted to the front page of the San Antonio Express on February 8, 1868. Leopold von Iwonski died in office on October 15, 1872. Carl von Iwonski was removed from office by the Democrats in May 1870.
With his friend and fellow artist Hermann Lungkwitz, Iwonski set up a photographic studio in San Antonio. There they continued their business until 1870, when Lungkwitz moved to Austin to become a photographer for the General Land Office. Although primarily a portrait photographer, Iwonski experimented with landscapes and attempted to record an eclipse of the sun with his camera. During this period he produced a sculpted bust of Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1869) and a heroic painting of the German general staff during the Franco-Prussian War (1871). During most of 1871 Iwonski also studied art at the Academy in Berlin.
Iwonski proved a versatile artist in a variety of mediums. The breadth of his interest was large and included landscapes, scenes of pioneer life, amateur theatricals, stage scenery, busts, lithographs, still lifes, political cartoons, Indians, and Civil War episodes. He was best known, however, for his portraits of Texas pioneers. Among more than 100 items cataloged in 1976 were likenesses of Governor Sam Houston, the Delaware scout and chief John Conners, Manuel Yturri, Sr., José Fermín Cassiano, Col. John Robert Baylor, Johanna and Edward Steves, Dorothea and Carl Hilmar Guenther, Julius Schuetze, Samuel Augustus Maverick, and Governor Edmund Jackson Davis. Iwonski's pencil portraits of children were especially sensitive in treatment and can be favorably compared to those of Richard Petri. During his years in Texas, Iwonski steadily improved his technique, especially in oil painting. The versatility of his work exceeded that of his contemporaries who pioneered in the fine arts in nineteenth-century Texas.
Iwonski, a lifelong bachelor, returned with his mother to Germany in 1873. There he remained active in art circles in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and Silesia. He died on April 4, 1912.


text:
Global warming has accelerated since the 1970s and broken more countries' temperature records than ever before in the first decade of the new millennium, UN climate experts have said.
A new analysis from the World Meteorological Organization shows that average land and ocean surface temperatures from 2001 to 2010 rose above the previous decade, and were almost a half-degree Celsius above the 1961-1990 global average.
The decade ending in 2010 was an unprecedented era of climate extremes, the agency said, evidenced by heat waves in Europe and Russia, droughts in the Amazon Basin, Australia and East Africa, and huge storms like Tropical Cyclone Nargis and Hurricane Katrina.
Data from 139 nations showed that droughts like those in Australia, East Africa and the Amazon Basin affected the most people worldwide. But it was the hugely destructive and deadly floods like those in Pakistan, Australia, Africa, India and Eastern Europe that were the most frequent extreme weather events.
WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said the data does not support the theory of some scientists of a slowdown, or lull, in the pace of planetary warming in recent years.
"The last decade was the warmest, by a significant margin," he said. "If anything we should not talk about the plateau, we should talk about the acceleration."
He said warming accelerated between 1971 and 2010, with the past two decades increasing at rates never seen before amid rising concentrations of industrial gases that trap heat in the atmosphere like a greenhouse.
By the end of 2010, the report shows, atmospheric concentrations of some of the chief warming gases from fossil fuel burning and other human actions were far higher than at the start of the industrial era in 1750. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the air rose 39% since then; methane rose 158%; and nitrous oxide was up 20%.


text:
An earlier version of this story misspelled the first name of Millan Mulraine of TD Securities. The story has been corrected.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. retail sales rose a strong 1.1% in March, Commerce Department data released Monday revealed, showing the economy is improving after the cold winter.
The firm report, which shows the largest gain for sales since September 2012, adds to the perception that the U.S. economy has taken a turn for the better. But it will take several months to know for sure whether this strong spending can be sustained
Sales in March were led by pent-up demand in auto sales. But the gains were widespread, with only gasoline stations and electronics stores reporting declines.
Adding to the sense of strength was a sharp upward revision to February sales.
Excluding the 3.1% rise in auto sales, retail sales rose 0.7%, the fastest pace since February 2013. Excluding the 1.3% drop in gasoline-station sales, retail sales rose 1.4%, the biggest rise since March 2010. Excluding both autos and gas, sales rose 1%, the fastest pace since February 2012.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected total sales to rise 0.8% and sales excluding autos to rise 0.4%.
"The overall tone of this report was unambiguously constructive, underscoring that U.S. consumers are back in the game after the weather-induced slump in spending in earlier months," said Millan Mulraine, economist at TD Securities.
U.S. stock prices rose, while Treasury prices US:10_YEAR moved lower.
Retail sales in February were revised to a 0.7% gain, much stronger than the initial estimate of a 0.3% increase.
In the past year, retail sales are up 3.8%.
The gains in retail sales in March were widespread. Particular strength came from sales at general merchandise stores, which had their biggest gain since March 2007.
Auto sales increased 3.1% in March, the biggest rise since September 2012. Sales last month sped up to a 16.4 million annual rate — matching a post-recession high — from 15.3 million in February. Auto dealerships account for about one-fifth of all retail spending.
Sales at furniture stores increased 1%. Sales at building materials stores rose 1.8%.
The two pockets of weakness were gas-station sales, down 1.3% and sales at electronic stores, down 1.6%.
More news from MarketWatch:
The disturbing news missing in the retail sales report
Why long-time unemployed can't get back on track
5 questions with Alan Krueger on long-term joblessness


text:
I've long had an uneasy relationship with security questions. It's the National Bank's fault. I had a spot of trouble with them a few years ago when I telephoned its centralised helpline to discuss my banking affairs.
I gave them my name and the number of the account I wished to discuss. The weird thing was I failed the security questions they asked me. From memory the questions were: when did I open the account, what was the rough current balance, and what was the limit on my credit card. On two separate occasions I answered these questions as accurately as possible yet the operator refused to engage with me any further.
So I took the most sensible course of action I could think of: I wrote to my branch in Hastings asking them to write back advising the answers to the questions they were after so that in future I'd be able to furnish the requisite replies to the telephone operator. Well, that didn't work. The letter I received said that they wouldn't be telling me the answers to the security questions since then they wouldn't be security questions.
I disagreed with this stance for several reasons. Firstly, surely they'd be safe sending the answers in writing to the mailing address my bank statements had been going to for many years. Secondly, since they clearly held a false set of information about me and since this false set of information was my sole key to telephone interaction with the bank, surely they were logically obliged to divulge it to me. Thirdly, my understanding of the Privacy Act was that organisations are obliged to release the information they hold on a customer to the individual concerned.
There was a time when this set of circumstances would have propelled me into launching a mammoth battle. I'd have sought legal advice, had letters issued on my behalf and generally come out with all guns blazing. However at this stage I'd moved on from such a litigious approach and couldn't be bothered expending energy on trivialities of this nature. I simply accepted I wouldn't be getting telephone service from the bank again.
So a letter from my branch, months later, came as a surprise. It explained that the records of another customer who had the same name as me had become mixed up with my records so when I telephoned, the operator expected this other person's answers.
The tone of this letter annoyed me. Instead of anything resembling apology or contrition, I detected only an unappealing mixture of breathless amazement that such a thing could happen and self-congratulation at solving this perplexing state of affairs. I still don't use the call centre. Thanks to internet banking, I've weaned myself off such twentieth century relics anyway.
I was reminded of this situation on Saturday when I let my nine-year-old download One Direction's Up All Night album. I keyed in my Apple password for her and discovered to my horror that I was required to select three security questions for my iTunes account.
The questions were awful. Favourite primary school teacher? I could barely remember the names of most of my mine. First car? Mine was a V-Dub but this was a dodgy thing to type since I'd never recall whether I'd used a hyphen or a second capitalised letter so I skipped this question too.
The questions asking for your favourite car or favourite job seemed odd since these preferences are subject to change over time. The only question that fully met with my approval was the one that asked where I was on 1st January 2000. However it failed one of www.goodsecurityquestions.com parameters. The answer was certainly safe (can't be easily guessed or researched), stable (doesn't change over time) and memorable (can be remembered without reference) but strictly speaking it wasn't definitive because it of its case sensitivity. Still, this didn't bother me since I'm well aware place names require an initial capital.
I was happy with my answers to two of the iTunes questions but since the other questions didn't suit me I had to be slightly creative with the third answer. So I'm almost guaranteed to face a bit of strife if I ever need to regurgitate this information. It'll end in tears I'm sure. Up All Night just might be the very last album I download.
Do you have a healthy relationship with security questions or do they cause you an unnecessary amount of grief too?


text:
Locate an ACVR Radiologist or Radiation Oncologist in your area.
Promoting Veterinary Radiology throughout the World...
Find out how research, education and practice in veterinary and comparative imaging and radiation oncology can make a life-saving difference for a pet like yours.
Veterinary Technicians in Radiation Oncology
Congratulations New 2019 ACVR Diplomates!
2019 ACVR New Resident Registration
Contribute an Educational Exhibit for the 2019 ACVR Conference in Baltimore, MD
September/October 2019
Check out the latest articles.
View Journal
Purchase Job Listings.
The Textbook of Veterinary Nuclear Medicine is available for purchase in the Society of Veterinary Nuclear Medicine Store.
Photo by Henry Moore, Jr., College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University.
How do I become a veterinary imaging technologist?
How do I become a veterinary radiation oncology technologist?
An AVMA Recognized Veterinary Specialty Organization
©2019 American College of Veterinary Radiology


text:
Website: http://www.ecorestoration.org
CER is focused on promoting environmental restoration and completing restoration projects. We believe that restoration offers a practicable form of sustainable development which can improve the human and natural environment while reconnecting communities to land and water.
Director: Thomas Ardito
Po Box 476 Saunderstown, RI 02874 Tel: (401) 575-6109


text:
|System: PS3, PC, Xbox 360
|Dev: Splash Damage
|Pub: Bethesda Softworks
|Release: May 10, 2011
|Players: 1-8
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
Perhaps the biggest problem, however, is that some of the missions are remarkably long, and if you fail, your only choice is to start over from the beginning or skip ahead. It's too bad you can't start from your latest objective, even if that means you have to play without online co-op help for a little bit. It is unbelievably infuriating when you run up against strong resistance late in a mission and end up losing half an hour's worth of work (which is another reason not to play solo).
Story-wise, Brink takes some major cues from Bioshock. Bioshock takes place in an underwater world created by devotees of Ayn Rand's hardcore libertarian philosophy. Brink, meanwhile, takes place on a man-made island, or a "seastead," (which some of today's libertarians have advocated as a way to escape the far-reaching hands of government.) In both games, what was intended as a watery utopia has gone wrong. In Brink, however, the downfall of this utopia was due to rising sea levels and the refugees from nearby lands who have stormed the island, which isn't big enough to hold everyone. The island's security team tries to keep these refugees under control, but things get violent.
The fact that the island is man-made gives the developers a lot of leeway in terms of architecture and scenery. This is an amazingly colorful game, with well-designed structures and some of the best overall graphical work I've ever seen; the worst issues are some screen-tearing and texture pop-in during cutscenes. (Brink is built on the id Tech 4/Doom 3 engine, modified to include a technology called "Virtual Texturing.") Unfortunately, the character models don't fare quite as well: They're almost photorealistic, except that each person's facial structure is distorted in a way that brings Team Fortress to mind—the eyes are a bit too close to the top of the head, and all the models have exceptionally strong jawlines and bulging skulls. It's certainly an interesting look, but it made everything just seem "off" to me.
In the end, however, Brink is a worthy buy for anyone who doesn't absolutely hate multiplayer FPS action. It blurs the line between single-player and multiplayer styles, introduces an effective new movement system, and finds ways of discouraging all the obnoxious behavior common in most multiplayer shooters. The campaign is long, and the different classes allow you to play each mission over and over without getting bored. All of this adds up to one huge accomplishment for Splash Damage.
Robert VerBruggen
CCC Contributing Writer
Game Features:


text:
Your floor, especially hardwood, is a major investment for any home owner, and as such it demands special care and treatment. There is certainly no shortage of advice on how to clean your floor, though some people only want you to purchase their expensive cleaning products.
Vacuuming is usually the most common way for cleaning hardwood floors, but did you know that it's actually not that sufficient? A hardwood floor demands much more that a ritualistic movement of your vacuum from one corner to another.
So, what more can you do to keep your hardwood floor elegant and alluring?
Use the Right Cleaning Products
A hardwood floor demands a lot of responsibility to keep it clean. If you give it adequate care, then its beauty will last for many years. Vacuuming the dirt and dust alone is not enough; you have to use various cleaning products that your flooring retailer has recommended. Each flooring manufacturer has specific products and specific instructions, and it's best to follow them so as not to void your warranty.
Some Vacuums Can Actually Damage Your Floor
Most vacuum cleaners are not strong enough to remove all the dirt on your floor, and you might be inclined to apply more pressure to it. This extra pressure can cause damage, requiring you to dip into your pockets to restore your floor.
You should get a vacuum cleaner that has either a brush or a felt head. A vacuum with a beater bar will only scar your hardwood floor with unsightly marks. Always do your research and read reviews from trusted sites on how to pick out the best vacuum cleaner for your floor type; this practice will save you a lot of time and money down the road. It is also a good idea to take time to train the maid/housekeeper on how to properly use a vacuum if you are not always around (assuming you have a maid).
Regular Waxing
After some time, your hardwood floor may lose its shine and become a bit dull. It is a good idea to wax and buff the floor periodically with the help of a special buffer machine. In case you want a little help or guidance, ask your flooring retailer on the best waxing agents and methods. Personally I never try new try any new products or techniques without asking first, and this has saved me a lot of trouble.
Cleaning On All Fours
This might seem a bit antique but getting on your knees and using your hands is the best way to give your hardwood floor that extra attention. This is especially true if there are a few obstacles that might limit the effectiveness of your vacuum. Investing in a dust mop is a good idea to clean around the chair-legs and other round edges which a vacuum may not adequately reach. I regularly use an electrostatic cloth to clean my floor and it works wonders.
Spills and Stains
When it comes to spills and stains, a vacuum cleaner will simply not help you. If spills are not wiped up quickly enough, you may end up spending more time and money trying to remove the resultant stains. Use a kitchen towel or a damp cloth to soak up the spill then spray the spot with a cleaner and leave it to dry. In case stains have formed, then patiently work at in from the outside in without scrubbing or using too much force.
Extra Tips to Keep Your Hardwood Floor Looking New
- Cover your furniture legs with flannel protectors to protect your floor from scratches. Don't drag furniture across the floor.
- Water is a hardwood floor's biggest enemy so don't allow it to stand for long.
- Stilettos and sharp-heeled shoes will only damage your floor. I always say love your floor, love your back!
- Place runners and rugs where people usually pass often
- Your pets can scratch the floor, so keep their nails short.
Now you know why it's not a good idea to only vacuum your hardwood floor. Hardwood floors reflect back the love and the care that we give to them. Regularly vacuuming is important, but we need to do more to keep them shining and glorious for generations to come.


text:
We have detected your city as
as a booking amount for priority delivery post lockdown.
Balance payment of /-
can be made before dispatch of products.T&C*)
Extra charges will be applicable for Installation***. Installation of Air Conditioner is charged extra to the customer at the time of installation and customer needs to be paid directly to the authorized service engineer.
Try saying: "Samsung Mobile"


text:
05 February 2013 | News | By BioSpectrum Bureau
Hope for rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease patients - Glenmark develops anti-OX40 monoclonal antibody GBR 830
Singapore: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has started the discovery and initiation of IND enabling studies of a novel clinical development anti-OX40 monoclonal antibody. GBR 830.
The drug candidate has been discovered and developed by the Glenmark Biologics Research Center, located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. GBR 830 is a potential global first-in-class molecule.
The development of OX40 antagonists has been very challenging. Glenmark has achieved a significant milestone with the successful generation of an antagonistic OX40 monoclonal antibody coupled with generation of data validating the role of OX40 in autoimmune diseases.
GBR 830 shows great promise to emerge as a valuable therapeutic option to treat patients suffering from immune pathologies such as autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Commenting on this milestone, Dr Michael Buschle, chief scientific officer and president, biologics, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, mentioned that, "GBR 830 is a tremendous achievement for us. No antagonistic antibodies targeting OX40 are currently in clinical stage of development. We are confident that the antibody expertise and product development capabilities of the Switzerland Biologics Research Center will continue to enrich the Glenmark discovery pipeline."


text:
Welcome to Ruby Victoria Letterpress & printmaking
Here you will find photos of all my original hand carved linocut prints and letterpress printing.
A commercial printer by trade a printmaker by choice.
I specialize in original handcarved lino block prints with a bit of letterpress thrown in for good measure.
All printed on antique printing machines with that unmistakable bite into the paper that you can only get with letterpress printing
The work that I do is not created on a computer everything is hand drawn then hand carved out of lino then printed one impression at a time on my tabletop letterpress machine
I do not use polymer which limits me somewhat in regards to type but I love to use traditional methods in my printing that involve handset type and hand carved designs and I think this is what make my work totally Original and Unique to what other people are doing right now and it also meaning everything I make is an original work of art
I love what I do and love to share it with others that are interested
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Uncovering Virginia
January 18, 2013
The permanent exhibit gallery Uncovering Virginia features recreations of six research sites in Virginia where VMNH scientists and their colleagues have worked or are working. There is a range of geographic locations around the Commonwealth that span a broad interval of time from 700 million years ago to 300 years ago. At each exhibit, there is: a recreation of the site as it is today; a lab experience where visitors can examine fossil or archaeological evidence and use the same tools as scientists to interpret that evidence; and video animation that brings to life the animals and plants that were alive at that time and in at that place.


text:
This weekend, Collider got to participate in the press junket for People Like Us, a family dramedy inspired by true events from the life of writer/director Alex Kurtzman. The story follows Sam (Chris Pine), a twenty-something guy who learns that his father has suddenly died, leaving behind a secret 30-year-old daughter (Elizabeth Banks) that Sam never knew about, and he is forced to re-examine his own life and re-think everything he thought he knew about his family.
While we will post what Kurtzman had to say about his feature film debut closer to its June 29th release, we did want to share what he had to say to us about the emotional experience of returning to the Enterprise for the Star Trek sequel, how insane it was to be able to really walk around the ship, how the set was built for the hallways to connect so that director J.J. Abrams could play whole scenes without a cut, and how they're still in discussion about when the first official images or teaser trailer might be released. He also talked about what made he and business partner Roberto Orci want to sign on to write the sequel for The Amazing Spider-Man, how they just wrapped Ender's Game (which takes place 70 years after a horrific alien war) and Now You See Me (about FBI agents who track a team of illusionists that pull off bank heists during their performances) as producers, and how excited they are to be rebooting Van Helsing and The Mummy. Check out what he had to say after the jump.
Collider: What was it like, the first day back on the Enterprise? Was it an emotional experience?
ALEX KURTZMAN: Oh, yeah, for sure! Me and Bob [Orci] and Damon [Lindelof] and J.J. [Abrams] and Bryan Burk all feel very protective of Star Trek. The studio had wanted it a year earlier and we said, "No, we can't. We're not going to be ready and we don't want to rush this." We felt very fortunate that the first movie was well received, and the last thing that we wanted to do was destroy that by rushing something. It's very precious to a lot of people. We love our Trek and we just wanted to keep it safe.
At the Prometheus junket, Damon Lindelof told Steve (at Collider) that you guys built the ship so that all the hallways connect and you can leave the bridge and really walk around the Enterprise. How cool was it for you to really walk around the ship?
Did you make sure to film some extra long takes of the cast, walking and talking?
KURTZMAN: That was the point. J.J. was brilliant, in building the sets that way, because what he wanted to do was be able to play whole scenes without a cut, as you were literally moving through this huge, huge ship. Just to walk on the set was incredible. Scott Chambliss, who's our production designer, built this glorious set.
Do you have any idea when J.J. will release the first official images or the first teaser trailer?
KURTZMAN: Not sure yet. That's still in discussion.
What made you want to take on the sequel as writers, before The Amazing Spider-Man is even in theaters?
KURTZMAN: Well, we've seen the movie. You always go by your gut. That's the best you can do. You go by what you feel, and you say yes or no based on what it inspires in you. All I can tell you is that, when I saw the movie, I loved the world that (director) Marc [Webb] had created. I think Andrew [Garfield] and Emma [Stone] are incredible in it. They're amazing! And I love everyone at Sony. Producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad, and everyone there, are so protective of their Spider-Man. I just have so much respect for them. We just saw it and we were excited. When you're a kid and you're a superhero lover, the holy trinity is Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, so to be able to take any of those and play with it is a huge joy.
What are you working on beyond that? How many things are you juggling right now?
KURTZMAN: Well, when you're directing, that's what you do. There's only room for one thing. That's why my partnership with Bob [Orci] has endured for as long as it has. We would never have been able to do everything we were doing, when I was off directing. We just wrapped Ender's Game, directed and written by Gavin Hood. We also wrapped Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier. We've finished Star Trek. We have Hawaii Five-O. We've been doing a lot of stuff.
Aren't you also rebooting Van Helsing and The Mummy?
KURTZMAN: Yeah. It's cool! There's been such a tonal shift, in the way audiences go to movies, particularly these big movies. I think a lot of that had to do with The Dark Knight and the success of The Dark Knight. Suddenly, it became about, "We want The Dark Knight version." But, whether you end up doing The Dark Knight or not, I think what's cool about that is that it's only grounded superhero stories, or big mythological stories in more reality. That's really what The Dark Knight did, and that was the turning point there. We try to do that on Trek. It's exciting, doing Van Helsing and The Mummy. They're both exciting, for those reasons.


text:
Contact Circa
Contact Circa
Featured Agent: Sandy Jacobson
Last Seen: Running in Forest Park.
Sandy Jacobson, REALTOR®
Phone:(314) 580-1489
Moving - even for the happiest of reasons in the best of times - is rarely simple. It's got a lot of parts, each with their own timing and a few risk factors. A...


text:
|Version 13 (modified by 10 years ago) (diff),
Preparing an Oracle test setup
This document is work in progress
This document attempt to ease the task of running the Django (or your own app's) test suite against Oracle by:
- Providing a step by step setup guide to achieve that.
- Hopefully collecting information (best practices, tuning tips) to do that as efficiently as possible.
Contributions from seasoned Oracle users are welcome!.
Chosen components are:
- Oracle XE (10g)
- GNU/Debian Linux x86. Things should also work with Ubuntu Linux without too much tweaking.
The system isn't going to be dedicated exclusively to run Oracle so we will leave things set up so it is necessary to start it manually before a test-debug session.
Obtain and install Oracle XE
We will be roughly following the Oracle installation documentation.
Download the oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.0_i386.deb package file from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/express-edition/downloads/index.html (Oracle Database 10g Express Edition for Linux x86). You need to have an Oracle Developer Network account and to accept the licence agreement.
Contrarily to what is suggested in some places I've found the newer oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb package you can get here (as of Nov 2010) and installable by using high level Debian/Ubuntu package management tools (APT, Aptitude, ...) didn't install things like the /etc/init.d/oracle-xe init script and some files under the /usr/lib/oracle hierarchy so I went with the older package plus the low-level dpkg package manager and taking care of dependencies manually (see next step).
Install the prerequisite packages, if you fail to do so the installation won't be successful but won't abort either:
$ sudo apt-get install bc libaio1
Make sure you have enough swap space. If you fail to do this, the Oracle package installation will abort with an error message about this unmet condition.
RAM [MiB] Swap size required 0 > RAM >= 256 3 * RAM 256 > RAM > 512 2 * RAM RAM >= 512 1 GiB
Install the package you downloaded:
$ sudo dpkg -i oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.0_i386.deb
Configure the DB engine:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure
It will ask you a number of questions, namely:
- A TCP port for the Oracle Database XE graphical user interface (default: 8080)
- A TCP port for the Oracle database listener (default: 1521)
- A password for the SYS and SYSTEM administrative user accounts. Take note of the value you choose.
- Whether you want the database to start automatically when the computer starts -- I chose NO here, see next step.
Optional -- Create an alternate init script -- If you've answered NO to the question about running the Oracle DB engine automatically on system start then it won't be possible to start it manually because that flag is stored (among others) in the /etc/default/oracle-xe configuration file and we would be using the same script as the one executed when the system boots (the SyV /etc/init.d/oracle-xe script) that always examines these values.
What we can do is to create a slightly modified /etc/init.d/xe script that ignores that flag and allows us to control the Oracle process at will:
$ cd /etc/init.d $ sudo cp -a oracle-xe xe $ sudo patch < /home/myuser/oracle-xe-script.diff
This is the oracle-xe-script.diff patch file:
--- xe 2006-02-24 17:23:15.000000000 -0300 +++ xe.new 2010-11-03 07:58:43.000000000 -0300 @@ -596,13 +596,8 @@ # See how we were called case "$1" in start) - if test -f "$CONFIGURATION" + if test ! -f "$CONFIGURATION" then - if test "$ORACLE_DBENABLED" != "true" - then - exit 0 - fi - else echo "Oracle Database 10g Express Edition is not configured. You must run '/etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure' as the root user to configure the database." exit 0 @@ -613,13 +608,8 @@ configure ;; stop) - if test -f "$CONFIGURATION" + if test ! -f "$CONFIGURATION" then - if test "$ORACLE_DBENABLED" != "true" - then - exit 0 - fi - else echo "Oracle Database 10g Express Edition is not configured. You must run '/etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure' as the root user to configure the database." exit 0
Now we can start/stop Oracle manually using it:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/xe start Starting Oracle Net Listener. Starting Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance. $ sudo /etc/init.d/xe stop Shutting down Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance. Stopping Oracle Net Listener.
(in newer versions of Debian/Ubuntu we can use the shorter version sudo service xe start)
Make sure the Oracle environment vars needed by its client libraries are set. You need to do this in all systems where you will be running client apps (e.g. the django test runner, the Oracle ''sqlplus'' CLI admin tool, etc.): the system where the DB engine will run and/or other systems connected to it through the network (see next item).
I use the Bash shell, see the Oracle docs for instructions for other shells:
$ echo "source /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/oracle_env.sh" >> ~/.bashrc $ source /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/oracle_env.sh
Decide if you will perform the following two tasks:
- Access the administrative web app
- Run the Django tests
from the same system where the DB engine is running or from another system through the network. If you chose the first option you can skip to the next step, if you chose the second option for any of the two kinds of access then you need to solve the following two issues first (see the Oracle installation documentation for detailed instructions):
- You will need to install the Oracle client stack on your remote system.
- By default no access of any type (SQL sessions, admin web app) is allowed through the network to the DB engine, you need to change that by using the administrative web interface or possibly using the sqlplus tool.
Access the DB engine administration web app by pointing your Web browser to http://localhost:8080/apex (or http://server:8080/apex) and using the SYSTEM user plus the password you chose above.
Create an user to be used to connect to the DB when running the tests. (e.g. djangotest) -- Go to Home > Administration > Database Users > CREATE, assign it a password (e.g. tehsekret)
Give the user the needed privileges.
- Roles: CONNECT, RESOURCE and DBA
Install cx_Oracle
Do this in the system where you will run your tests:
$ sudo apt-get install python-dev
$ sudo pip install cx_Oracle
$ sudo easy_install cx_Oracle
Create the Django settings file
$ cat oracle_settings.py DATABASES = { 'default': { 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.oracle', 'NAME': 'xe', 'USER': 'djangotest', 'PASSWORD': 'tehsekret', 'TEST_USER': 'django_test_default', 'TEST_TBLSPACE': 'django_test_default', 'TEST_TBLSPACE_TMP': 'django_test_default_temp', }, 'other': { 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.oracle', 'NAME': 'xe', 'USER': 'djangotest', 'PASSWORD': 'tehsekret', 'TEST_USER': 'django_test_other', 'TEST_TBLSPACE': 'django_test_other', 'TEST_TBLSPACE_TMP': 'django_test_other_temp', }, }
The key is that NAME should be the same ('xe') for both entries, since you're really establishing two connections to the same database (see Understanding the database test setup below for details about this). The TEST_USER, TEST_TBLSPACE, and TEST_TBLSPACE_TMP entries must be different, however.
Thanks Ian Kelly for providing the correct settings file.
Test things
$ sudo /etc/init.d/xe start $ ./runtests.py --settings=oracle_settings.py basic Creating test database 'default'... Creating test user... Creating test database 'other'... Creating test user... .......s... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ran 11 tests in 2.279s OK (skipped=1) Destroying test database 'default'... Destroying test user... Destroying test database tables... Destroying test database 'other'... Destroying test user... Destroying test database tables...
Understanding the database test setup
An Oracle instance allows the existence of only one database. This is somewhat different from what we could be accustomed from working with other RDBMS. For more details see the relevant Oracle documentation.
Oracle XE allows the existence of only one database instance (named 'xe'). So, when the Django ORM testing code needs to test multi-DB functionality added in version 1.2, the Django Oracle backend implements that by creating what is know as tablespaces. The overall scheme of things is like this:
For every DB alias defined in DATABASES:
- The 'NAME' variable value specifies the name of the DB we ask the Oracle engine for ('xe' in the case of XE). AFAIK This can be further controlled by using the tnsnames infrastructure.
- Both a data tablespace and a temporary data tablespace are created.
- The names of such tablespaces are derived from the value of the NAME var (the data tablespace gets a name prefixed by 'test_' and the temporary tablespace one prefixed by 'test_' and suffixed by '_tmp'.
- But their names can also be overridden by the 'TEST_TBLSPACE' and 'TEST_TBLSPACE_TMP' vars, respectively.
- For these tablespaces, a temporary user is created beforehand that has full ownership and control over them.
- The username of such user isn't the same as the 'USER' var, is derived from it by adding a 'test_' prefix. It can be overridden with the value of the 'TEST_USER' var.
- The password assigned to that user is hardcoded, but can be overridden by the value of the 'TEST_PASSWD' var.
- The tablespaces and the user are removed when test execution finishes.
- Some variables are provided to control parts of this process:
- 'TEST_CREATE' -- Skips creation and deletion of the tablespaces.
- 'TEST_USER_CREATE' -- Skip creation and deletion of the temporary user.
In summary, Oracle has the following extra DATABASES vars when compared with other Django DB backends: 'TEST_TBLSPACE', 'TEST_TBLSPACE_TMP', 'TEST_USER', 'TEST_PASSWD', 'TEST_CREATE' and 'TEST_USER_CREATE'.
In my particular case I implemented this setup by using a KVM virtual machine (host system is a workstation running Debian unstable Sid). The VM got:
- One CPU (Oracle XE won't use any additional CPU).
- 512 MiB of RAM (initially it was 1GiB but the Django test suite execution doesn't push memory usage above that at all).
- 30 GiB hard disk.
Platform is GNU/Debian Linux 5.0 aka Lenny (stable as of Nov 2010) because it still is in its support period. As a bonus contains Python 2.4 in pre-packaged form.
Things to review:
- How much does the Oracle installation pollutes the system?. If it result to be confined and easy to undo/cleanup, maybe this setup doesn't need to be done inside a VM.
Attachments (1)
- oracle-xe-script.diff (887 bytes) - added by 9 years ago.
Download all attachments as: .zip


text:
Glassblowing artist Josh Simpson creates imaginary planets that have landmasses, oceans, mountain ranges, volcanoes, even clouds. His big mega-planets, shown at a variety of museums, are 30 centimeters in diameter and weigh 23 kilograms. But he also makes small orbs a couple of centimeters across, which are being placed surreptitiously around our own Earth.
Simpson's inspiration for his clandestine Infinity Project came from some marbles he found a long time ago on his property in Shelburne, Mass., which appeared to have been lying there for decades and yet were still as brilliant as ever, thanks to the long-lasting properties of glass. Today, more than 1,700 people have hidden his small planets in all sorts of locations—from the gravesite of John Belushi to a castle in Lithuania to an abandoned British fort in Bundi, India—and Simpson still provides them to applicants who present a novel plan.
Each globe is marked with an infinity symbol. Some are meant to be discovered quickly, others are likely to remain hidden for centuries. "I hope future archaeologists will be confused about the meaning and purpose of the little spheres, wondering what they are and how they got there," Simpson says with a smile.
>>View a slide show of people leaving Simpson's little planets in spots around the world.
The slide show here identifies people who have placed planets, and the locations they chose. All photos have been submitted by the volunteers and were taken by them or anonymous friends. Related photos showing Simpson's work can be seen here.


text:
Furiends! A week today my book is going to be launched! I'm so very excited and in celebration I've got five copies that you can all be in with a chance of winning.
There are several ways to enter. You can easily join in by clicking on the rafflecopter below and following the simple steps. Three winners will be selected at random once it closes at 9PM (GMT) on the 23rd of April. All three winners will be announced on the day of my book launch… the 24th of April!
For those of you who are also creative (I know lots of you are!) I would love for you to post a photo "inspired by Bailey Boat Cat" on my Facebook page! It's completely up to you how you decide to interpret that or what you would like to do. The two photos with the most likes on my Facebook page when I wake up on the day of the launch (at 9AM GMT on the 24th of April- my purrsonal assistant has set the alarm) will each win a copy of my book too!
Good luck to evfurryone, I hope you're as excited as I am!
Bisous Bailey


text:
Public Sitting (Westside)
SMCLA offers public sitting on the Westside every Sunday morning.
Sunday public sitting
9:00am – 12:30pm
Click here for a list of ongoing offerings taking place on our westside location. You can also check our classes and retreats page for information on upcoming programs.
Our address is:
3877 Grand View Blvd
Mar Vista, CA 90066
1.5 blocks south of Venice Blvd., between Centinela and Inglewood, in the rear building of a three-building complex, next door to Neighborhood Youth Association.
Sundays from 9am to 12pm on Grand View, the Mar Vista Farmers Market is open, so access from Venice Blvd. is blocked. Please enter Grand View via Washington Blvd. to the south during those times.
View Google Map.
Click here for more information on public sitting hours.